More Money In Senior Citizens' Hands

Higher tax relief on health insurance premium and hike of exemption limit of interest income from savings accounts, fixed deposits, recurring deposits are seen as clear positives for senior citizens

- Balwant Jain

The Finance Minister has opened his pandora box in the Union Budget with a mix of surprises. While there are both positives and negatives in this budget,we will discuss the positive things from the point of view of personal taxation.

Benefits for senior Citizen

From individual taxation point of view, this year’s budget can be truely termed as the budget for senior citizens. The finance minister has proposed various measures to provide relief to this class of citizens.

With the cost of medical treatments going up more than the general inflation levels and senior citizens having to spend relatively more money on their health, medical cost or medical insurance premiums of senior citizens constituted the major part of the budget. Presently, the senior citizens themselves or their children are entitled to claim deductions upto Rs 30,000 for premium paid for buying health insurance policies. The finance minister has proposed to enhance this limit under section 80 D to RS 50,000. The finance minister has also extended the benefit of availing deduction in respect of expenses incurred for treatment of a senior citizen where the senior citizen does not have any health insurance. This was available only to people over 80 years of age. This is very welcome step for those senior citizens who are not able to get a health insurance policy due to advanced age and onset of some ailments.